Hyde Marine and OptiMarin Marketing A/S provided compact ballast water treatment system aboard the Princess Cruises “Regal Princess”. It is designed to remove and destroy/inactivate biological organisms and bacteria from ballast water without affecting the normal operation of the ship. Open ocean exchange of ballast water is not a practical alternative for cruise ships in regular coastwise operations. Princess Cruises chose the OptiMar Ballast Water Treatment System to address the problem of non-indigenous species in ballast water at a realistic total installed cost.

The “Regal Princess” takes on and discharges ballast water at a rate of 200 t/hr (880 US GPM) as fuel and other consumables are used. Ballast water is pumped through the OptiMar system, which separates solids and irradiates the water with UV light in two stages. The patented MicroKill Cyclonic Separator removes heavier particles larger than approximately 40 microns and the MicroKill Ultraviolet light treatment system kills or inactivates biological organisms with UV radiation. The UV system can also be used during deballasting to ensure that all organisms have been killed or inactivated when they are discharged from the ship. All system components are proven reliable, safe and easy to maintain.

The Hyde/OptiMar Ballast System was installed aboard the “Regal Princess” during a regular scheduled two-week cruise from Southern California along the Mexican West Coast in late March 2000. There were no interruptions to the ship’s normal operations. The system is compact enough to be located in the ship’s pump room. The ship’s existing ballast piping system, ballast pump(s), and control valves are used as much as possible to minimize the total installation cost.